The Main Bridge is the nerve center of the ship.
From here all command functions are carried out, crises resolved, battles fought. The
Bridge is so important that aboard the Ajax, it is surrounded by over
a foot of Duranium armor plating. All systems are triply redundant, and in an emergency,
the Bridge is totally self-contained and can be hermetically sealed and isolated from the
rest of the ship, with seven days of life support.
The Bridge layout owes much to the design philospohy of the extremely efficient Intrepid class bridge, although in a pioneering step, the Prometheus class designers put the Tactical station at the front of the Bridge, alongside the Conn and Ops stations. This has proved to be a great success and the Tactical software built into the LCARS 3.6 system is the most advanced to date, providing many new advantages over older versions. The Tactical station also has a direct realtime interface with the Strategic Ops station at the back of the Bridge, providing advanced tactical situation analysis. The Tactical station also has the ability to direct the other two sections of the ship when in MVA mode.
On the port side of the Bridge is the door to the Captain's ready room. Inside here is the Captain's head as well as a desk, four chairs, a sofa, and large observation windows. The ready room also has the ability to be isolated from the ship in times of emergency, and a replicator provides up to a week of rations for 8 people.
Covering nearly the entire fore wall of the Bridge is a large holographic display screen. This large screen has the ability to display any image either holographically or two-dimensionally. Exterior cameras located in every sensor pallete provide all-round exterior viewing, and probes can be equipped with cameras to provide exterior pictures of the ship itself. Two speakers are located at either side of the screen to provide audio when needed, for example when the screen is being used in communications.
In the center of the Bridge is the Command seat. Often referred to affectionately as the "Captain's chair", this has displays in the armrests that can be configured to mirror any station, including Conn, Ops and Tactical. It is possible to fly the ship from this chair. On either side of the Command seat are two more seats, both with similar displays set on fold-out arms. To port is the Executive Officer's seat, and to starboard is the VIP or mission specialist seat.
At the starboard rear of the bridge are two turbolifts. The port one functions as the main Bridge turbolift when in cruise mode, but is also the dedicated lower section Battle Bridge turbolift. For this purpose, a spare turbocar is stored in a compartment to the rear of the turboshaft. The starboard turbolift acts as a backup main turbolift for cruise mode use and is the dedicated middle section Battle Bridge turbolift.
At the rear of the Bridge are the operational stations, including Science, Environmental control, Mission Ops, Strategic Ops and the Master situation monitor. This large schematic display mirrors the one in Engineering and provides a full status report of the ship's general "health" as well as detailed readings of any particular area.
Interestingly, there is no dedicated Engineering station on the Bridge, but the secondary standby console can be configured for any station, including Engineering.